From perception to conflict resolution: priority-managing mechanism for road intersections
Résumé
Traffic jams constitute an important problem in the cities. Before improving or modifying the
infrastructure and the traffic equipments, it seems necessary to evaluate and to measure their impacts on
the traffic system, on the capacity as well as on the safety. The evaluation of the proposed solutions can
be done by tools such as microscopic traffic simulation models, provided that the studied solution deals
with local phenomena. But to study the local traffic situations it would seem necessary to take into
account the driver's behaviours. Nevertheless, in many traffic studies, the authors introduce normative
behaviours in their models, e.g. they follow the rules from the Highway Code. Unfortunately, drivers
behaviours are not normative, moreover in some crossroad situations they can establish their informal
rules, which can differ from the established ones. Not to take into account driver's behaviour in the
crossroad modelling is a barrier for a better use of the traffic simulation models. Our aim in this paper is
to present a model where the driver's behaviour is based on a larger view of its environment, and thus to
propose a new mechanism focused on both the resolution of the conflicts at the crossroad and the
management of the longitudinal space, e.g. the space in the front of the simulated driver. This
mechanism allows the storage at the centre of the intersection independently of the equipment.